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The Security Box, podcast 12 for September 30, 2020

Welcome to podcast 12 of the security box. We had quite a few topics this time, and even a podcast segment. Want to participate? Contact info is given throughout the program, so feel free! The notations of the program follow.

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Welcome to podcast 12 of the tech podcast series known as the Security Box.

Topics:

• On podcast 10 of the box, we link to an article about due dilligence. It was segment 2 of that podcast. Just recently,, its time to update this, as now Krebs has an article asking the question: Who is Tech Investor John Bernard? Seems to me that this guy, whoever he is, is not a good guy, and I think I visited the page in the first story just to see what it was about. In no way was I going to utalize the services, but I was mainly curious what the main page had to say. It is funny to see that the site has a general closed message on it, and people still come forward afterword to people like Brian and tell him what has happened to them. This is quite funny, and I think I’ll have this as my first topic. Did you read the article linked to in podcast 10, and if so, what did you think? What do you think now?
• Apparently, another tech company is hitting the news in regards to a ransomware attack. The company in question put out the same type of info that most companies put out in regards to the breach or lack there of when it comes to personal information that may have been taken. The problem is that the investigation is still ongoing, and even though the article was updated after initial printing, we can’t say who is telling the truth. Govt. Services Firm Tyler Technologies Hit in Apparent Ransomware Attack is the article, and I think this aught to be quite interesting. Only time will tell.
• APWG is the Anti Phishing working group. This group does work to try and advise security experts and us on how to be as safe as possible. Now they’re saying that SSL should not be used in determining if a website is secure. We’ve known through Phishlabs articles on the blog that the rate of SSL certificates by actors was on the rise, but now we shouldn’t rely on it. APWG: SSL Certificates No Longer Indication of Safe Browsing comes from the Phishlabs folks, and I think its worth the read. We also put it in the news notes rundown, and I am sure it’ll garner conversation.

News Notes:

• News Notes has quite a few items even though I have had technical problems as of late. The weather isn’t helping with health concerns as well, so it may not be large, but it is good none the less. If you’re interested in the news I’ve gathered, head on over to this blog post and check out what might interest you. There may be some overlap, but at the same time, you might find something you want discussed that I didn’t read.

Podcast segments

• Michael in Tennessee is on with us for about 37 minutes talking about one particular article that caught his attention. He and I discuss this particular article, and we even bring up other odds and ends tying this up with other revelant but could be off topic stuff as well. The article we reference comes from Cyber Scoop, and its a good one. FBI hopes a more aggressive cyber strategy will disrupt foreign hackers which was posted to that site on the 21st of September. This article was written by Sean Lyngaas.

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Want to download a copy of this and don’t want to go to the RSS feed? Please feel free to use this dropbox link which lasts 1 week. Thanks so much for reading, participating, and or checking out what we have to offer. See you on another edition of the podcast!

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What has been going on in the security landscape since we’ve spoken last, news ending Tuesday, September 29, 2020

I’ve been dealing with techincal issues which I think I finally resolved, so we”re going to extend the news notes till today. I hope that everyone is doing well, and that you will find something of interest from the going ons of the past week. Thanks so much for reading!

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In an earlier podcast of the Security Box, and coming up as part of podcast 12, we learn more about due diligence. Please read the show notes on podcast 10 to get the first article. In the news this week, Brian Krebs asks the question: Who is Tech Investor John Bernard? Instead of quoting anything from it, let us just let you read it and we can discuss it on the security box. I honestly think that it’ll definitely be worth the read.

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Govt. Services Firm Tyler Technologies Hit in Apparent Ransomware Attack was reported through Krebs on Security and also through Trend Micro’s news ending September 25, 2020. This is notable because this is a big player in software and other tech services for the government. This company is based in Texas, and it just goes to show what can happen to any size business.

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If you haven’t seen this, This Week in Security News: Cybercriminals Distribute Backdoor with VPN Installer and New ‘Alien’ Malware can Steal Passwords from 226 Android Apps covers the Texas issue as well as other things that you might find of value. If you find something of value, I’d love to hear it from you.

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September 29th braught a few different items to the table in the security and phishing landscape. On this entry, APWG has some very interesting news of interest I thought that we would cover in regards to the show but yet we can also talk about it here. The article: APWG: SSL Certificates No Longer Indication of Safe Browsing is what I want to bring up here. I may have a longer in depth article on this one, because I think it is worth talking about. I hope that people find this of interest.

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The last item that we have for this time, is some very interesting news coming out of Trend Micro. This particular thing may also be talked about in a future article here, and it is yet another threat. This time: Royal Ripper: Multi-Stage Phishing Attack Adapts to Victim Input is the article and i bet that you all will want to talk about this one.

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Found something you wanted us to talk about? I know we’re behind and now that we’re fixed, we can definitely chat. I hope that we can do so by you sending me an email/imessage/textmessage/whats app or even giving me a phone call. I hope that we can chat, and I hope to be back blogging more often now that i have things settled down now. Thanks for contacting me and having an interest in the blog.

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NFB newsline 3.0 with KNFB basic included

Hello Folks, just received the following Email today through NFB. I’m passing this along for everyone, and I hope that it is of value. While I have the full KNFB reader app, as well as others, this may be of value for those who don’t have anything and need something like this and are subscribed to newsline.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

NFB-NEWSLINE Mobile 3.0 with KNFB Reader Basic Released

Free iOS App Now Available

The National Federation of the Blind has released version 3.0 of NFB-NEWSLINE Mobile to the Apple App Store. The brand new, redesigned app not only allows subscribers to access all of the content available through NFB-NEWSLINE from their iPhone, iPad, or other iOS device, but includes a free basic version of the KNFB Reader mobile app. NFB-NEWSLINE Mobile includes these features and much more:

KNFB Reader Basic, a free version of KNFB Reader with the core functions necessary to quickly scan any printed text – just point, shoot, and read!

The ability to share articles from publications in the breaking news category to social media channels.

Multiple customization options to organize, save, and manage both NFB-NEWSLINE content and documents scanned with KNFB Reader Basic.

NFB-NEWSLINE Mobile 3.0 is fully accessible with VoiceOver so that users can hear content read aloud or read it in Braille with a connected refreshable Braille display or notetaker, making the app ideal for blind and deafblind users.

“We are pleased and proud that NFB-NEWSLINE Mobile 3.0 – a technology solution created by blind people for blind people – is now a one-stop destination for access to all kinds of information, including printed text,” said Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Having instant access to the information we need wherever we go helps all blind and deafblind people live the lives we want.”

David DeNotaris, who participated in beta testing of the app, said: “As a husband/father, entrepreneur and elected school board director, access to print information is crucial! NFB-NEWSLINE provides me with fast, reliable and accessible local, state, national and international breaking news and information at my fingertips! At a recent school board meeting, a document was distributed in print with updated guidance that needed to be considered prior to a vote later in the evening. I used my NFB-NEWSLINE app to quickly and discreetly snap a picture and listen to the document through my earbuds, take some notes, ask questions and make an informed decision. NFB-NEWSLINE helps me stay connected, empowering me to contribute on our local school board and compete in our global economy, allowing me to fit in, not sit out. Thank you NFB-NEWSLINE team, you are #DifferenceMakers!”

For more information about the NFB-NEWSLINE service and the new mobile app, please visit nfb.org/programs-services/nfb-newsline.

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The tech blog is passing this on for people to know about, and I hope it is of value. Thanks so much for reading!

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Can’t get assignment 19 passed

Well,
After a lengthy battle with making sure I got the title page correct since I clearly screwed that up, I submitted the second attempt on assignment 19 and failed yet again. Some of the errors I completely understand and others may have been caused by something else wrong, but the biggest thing I hate is “there are more errors” and for a student, I clearly don’t understand this. This is not the first time I’ve had this through this course. Hopefully, this last attempt I have will be a success. I’m confident I can get it right.

I used a combination of B2K and RTF to get this assignment done, and its been a gruling time. More later on.

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Apple updates 1 week later

After the release of IOS, watch and Mac updates, the respective platforms are updated. This apple vis post covers all of what is new. I was tipped off by perusing the forums over on Dice World and it was mentioned there.

We are unaware of whether it fixes any of the blindness issues found in IOS 14 just a week ago.

For now, I plan on staying on IOS 13.7 unless my phone is ready for an update. This is my only device, and I am not in any hurry to update it at this time.

Have you found anything of interest with IOS 14.01? Want to submit your own updates to the tech podcast? Please feel free to do so, and I’ll be sure to include it.

You can submit audio via Dropbox Transfer or We Transfer or any other service that allows you to share files. You can send me a link to my tech email address. If you have other contact info, you may use that.

Check out the apple vis post for any update to whether blindness related issues are fixed. Thanks for reading!

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Tech podcast 352 for September 24, 2020

The show notes are sweet and short.

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Voice mail systems, are they gone? Covid-19 and the email landsscape, a webinar and IOS 14 and other OS’s and whether apps are updated timely if they are broken. Enjoy this 65 minute podcast!

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RSS is here

If you want to have a file sent to you, please let me know. I’ll be happy to send it to you.

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This was an interesting twitter issue today

I got email from DLVR and even live journal about my own twitter today. I thought maybe something happened so I went ahead and did what DLVR needed for me to regain my twitter. Apparently, an issue happened today which locked some accounts.

Twitter Support, You may be noticing a delay in your Tweets showing up on timelines. We’re working to fix this right now. 5 hours ago, Sprinklr

Twitter Support, We’re seeing a number of accounts that have been locked or limited by mistake and not because they Tweeted about any particular topic. We’re working to undo this and get those accounts back to normal. 4 hours ago, Sprinklr

Twitter Support, This is now fixed. Your Tweets should be making it onto your timeline…on time. an hour ago, Sprinklr

Twitter Support, The accounts that were mistakenly locked or limited have been restored. We’re sorry this happened in the first place.

If you’re having trouble accessing your account, here’s what you can do: https://help.twitter.com/managing-your-account/locked-and-limited-accounts an hour ago, Sprinklr

I saw the third tweet on my phone.

I think this was an honest mistake somewhere and unfortunate. Sadly, I believe Live Journal also had a problem as I tried to log in to my account to reconnect my twitter and its sayingt something about my password being out of date. While I want to fix that, seems like I’m now not getting email as I should. That address is up to date as I got the email saying my twitter was having a problem.

Mistakes happen, and I think this was an honest one. Were you effected by this twitter issue today? Sound off. Also coming out, some accounts were also suspended by mistake as well. They’ve reversed this too. More to come if I get any updates on this. Just wanted to pass this along.

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The Security Box, podcast 11 for September 23, 2020

This podcast was a little shorter than usual. That’s OK, we did cover everything I wanted to cover. Its the way it goes. Here are the show notes. A link to the RSS and a link to download follow the notes.

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Welcome to podcast 11 of the Security Box.

Topic:

• Ransomware is everywhere. Last week, Michael in Tennessee sent this article during the show, and I finally got a chance to read it. This time, Newhall schools are effected, and while the advice given in the article is sound, we can officially say that nothing is predictable in this strange year. ABC7 in Los Angeles gives us: Ransomware attack shuts down remote classes in Newhall which has some good points. The article talks about what is being done which includes getting ferenzic folks in there, law enforcement, and other people who may be needed to restore data. The article didn’t talk about training. Question, where is the training so people in the district know what to look for when something like this happens again? Ransomware starts with an email in most cases.
• TikTok is back in the news, and this can’t be good news anyhow. The article Lame-duck versions of TikTok and WeChat are definitely a problem, security experts say is what we’re going to talk about, and we’ll play this CNET video: TikTok, WeChat ban explained. I didn’t know WEChat was a problem, but then again, I’ve not used that app at all. From what I’ve heard, its similar to apps for communication like Whats app, and other messaging apps. To top this all off, Michael in Tennessee recently sent me an article in regards to the TikTok Sale to Oracle. The TikTok deal solves quite literally nothing is the article, and it is quite interesting. This whole story aught to get interesting now, but suffice it to say, TikTok is saved, for now.
• Open forum: what do you want to talk about? This is your time to shine.

News Notes and things

• The biggest topic right now is TikTok and their very interesting developing story as it continues to unfold. Besides that, we’ve got some recent arrest news and other items in this blog post which has been cut short because of the fact I haden’t felt well. The news also covers a Chinese firm who is supposed to do antivirus work being part of apt41. This is going to be interesting.
• For the first time to our knowledge, ransomware may have lead to a death for a critically ill patient. The attack was an apparent accident, as the actors gave the hospital the key after it was determined they made a mistake on their target. Hospitals have never really fixed their security problems, mainly because of the lack of funding. This could hurt them now that they know that someone died. Ransomware may have led to the death of a German hospital patientRansomware may have led to the death of a German hospital patient is the article that talks more about this very interesting story.

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Want a copy but don’t want to go to the RSS feed? No problem! Use this link to download the file (136.2mb) It’;ll be available for week. Enjoy!

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Luxottica confirms ransomware attack,

One of my followers is tweeting through bleeping computer that ray-ban owner Luxottica suffered a ransomware attack. Lens Crafters may have also been effected, and I’m familiar who lens crafters is.

If you use any of the mentioned places or eyeware, you might want to learn about this potential issue.

Bleeping Computer: Ray-Ban owner Luxottica confirms ransomware attack, work disrupted

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We’ve got some arrests that might be of value

I have two recent arrest articles that might bee of interest to people. Cybercrime is such a hard thing to track down, and arrests in this field should be talked about.

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‘DisrupTor’ dark-web crackdown leads to 179 arrests by international law enforcement
This is something of interest because we know what the dark web can hide. The Security box has talked about this in passing, and questions have come up.

U.S. and European law enforcement agencies on Tuesday announced the arrest of 179 alleged drug traffickers and the seizure of millions in cash and virtual
currencies in one of the largest takedowns of dark-web commerce to date.

The crackdown seized more than 1,000 pounds in drugs and targeted an illicit supply chain of opioids, a highly addictive class of drug that has ravaged
American lives in recent years. More than two-thirds of the arrests occurred in the U.S., officials said.

Its interesting that the majority of the arrests came from right here in the United States. It really makes you wonder who is behind all of these things we read aobut on a regular basis.

There is more, including links to other terms and tags and things, so feel free to check this one out.

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‘Dark Overlord’ hacker pleads guilty, sentenced to 5 years for extortion threats

Someone finally pleading guilty for something. This may be a good sign. An overlord is someone who oversees a project in this space, kind of like your supervisor or even their boss in the workplace.

Years after he threatened to publicly release information from hacking victims unless they agreed to his digital extortion demands, Nathan Wyatt is headed
to a U.S. prison.

A judge in the Eastern District of Missouri on Monday sentenced Wyatt, 39, to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to assisting a hacking crew
known as The Dark Overlord. Wyatt, who had previously entered a plea of not guilty, participated in a court hearing by phone from a jail in St. Charles
County, Missouri.

“I’d like to apologize for the role that I played in this,” Wyatt said, through tears, adding that he struggles with a mental illness that affects his
decision-making ability. “I can promise you that I just want to go home to my family. I’m out of that world, and I don’t want to see another computer for
the rest of my life.”

You want to go home? Did you think about your actions and what it could cause? Sure, we have all made mistakes, but the law is the law. Een if I were to comit a crime, I wo0uld have to answer authorities just like you do. It does not matter the crime in my opinion, what to others think?

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The comment boards await you. Have fun with this one.

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German Attack being treated as homicide

Within the past several days, I posted this blog post that talked about the possibility of the first time where malware had something to do with a death. I recently found an article by Cyberscoop I neglected to post yesterday This will be mentioned in passing on today’s security box podcast.

The article in question is entitled German investigators treating ransomware attack as negligent homicide, reports say and it was a great read.

German prosecutors last week opened a homicide investigation into a deadly ransomware incident on a university hospital, according to multiple German media
reports.

If confirmed, it would be the first documented case of a death stemming, directly or indirectly, from a cyberattack, analysts say.

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The incident highlights the starkly different risks facing organizations with vulnerable software. For some, the outdated code may cost them data. For
medical organizations, patient safety could be on the line. During the coronavirus pandemic, cybersecurity professionals around the world have been so
concerned by the hacking of health care organizations that they have volunteered their time to protect them.

This was asked about through Whats app, and will be mentioned in passing as part of news motes or the open forum. We’ll see what happens.

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more data= more performance

Hi all.

Well I have just found and setup sitekit by google.

This will enable more on the fly performance tracking of users.

This means that we are fully supported with the google data systems.

This does include adds, analitics but your add blocker can block those.

It is important that where possible you allow the site through.

Now obviously if the add banners become a problem please tell me so I
can turn that part off.

So what does this mean for the users.

Well for us admins it means actively finding out what is trending on the
site.

I do get a report from google search every once in a while but any
tagged posts will get recorded in tag manager.

Google optimizes page speed and the like.

There are adds but don’t feel you ever need to click those.

At any time I or jared can view what is going on traffic wize and what
is being searched.

This will get us more insite on what to create and what to do in general.

Of course, any comments will help a lot.

thanks all

crashmaster

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There are several articles out there about APT41

APT41 may be shrinking. U.S. Justice Department Charges APT41 Hackers over Global Cyberattacks is only one article that talks about this, and it is quite interesting. If you’ee seen articles, what do you think? I’d love to hear what you think about this.

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Hackers leak data on police

Its OK to protest in this world, no matter what you’re protesting. If people get arrested, its probably because of something the police don’t like. The Guardian is reporting that hackers will release info on police officers unless the arrests stop. Hackers leak data on 1,000 Belarusian police officers is the article. Have fun with this one! This can’t be good.

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Ransomware is now potentially causing death

For the first time since ransomware has taken hold, it is being reported that it can possibly be linked to a critically ill patient who had to be shipped 19 miles to the nearest hospital.

We know that hospitals lack basic security measures and its not all their fault. But if this is a sign that things should and must change, than I invite you to read Ransomware may have led to the death of a German hospital patient from Engadget. I hope this is the first and last time that this ever happens. Hopefully the actors get caught for that crap.

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Artificial intellegent robots delivering food

In this ever growing world of Corona, I’m going through twitter and found this item from the Jakarta post. It has an article talking about robots in Soul, South Korea delivering food to at least 4 tables at once. It has a speaker for communicating in English and Korean, and the restaurant is taking percautions in the wake of the virus, which hasn’t slowed down much.

While the article shows numbers within the country, the goal for us on the blog is not to focus so much on the numbers currently, but the technology that is trying to assist. Maybe we need to have robots in our restaurants so we can go back to a normal life as much as possible? This could get interesting.

Article: AI robot serves customers at Seoul restaurant

The only thing I wonder if whether the touch screens are accessible for those people with disabilities and other challenges. Thoughts are welcome.

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This week in the Security Landscape for September 19, 2020

I have not been feeling the greatest, but I do know there are plenty of items that might be of interest just the same. While this isn’t a comprehensive list, I know that there may be things people will be looking to want to talk about on any of my programs for tech.

Let us get started on what I’ve got.

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This Week in Security News: AWS Outposts Ready Launches With 32 Validated Partners and Staples Hit by a Data Breach
On this article, there includes lots of different things including the Neuhal ransomware attack. We’re covering the ABC7 report on this as part of the next Security Box podcast.

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Two Russians Charged in $17M Cryptocurrency Phishing Spree
This is a very interesting story, as we know that Russia has now made a name for itself in the Cybercrime industry

U.S. authorities today announced criminal charges and financial sanctions against two Russian men accused of stealing nearly $17 million worth of virtual
currencies in a series of phishing attacks throughout 2017 and 2018 that spoofed websites for some of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges.
The Justice Department unsealed indictments against Russian nationals Danil Potekhin and Dmitirii Karasavidi, alleging the duo was responsible for a sophisticated
phishing and money laundering campaign that resulted in the theft of $16.8 million in cryptocurrencies and fiat money from victims.

I’m unclear if victims will be seeing any of that money returned back to them, and one story is that someone had money saved up for treatment that was stolen. This is unfortunate. I think this is why I have never gotten in to the crypto currency, although I have heard the technology is quite cool. I’m glad now that I’ve not gotten involved in this although the money would be nice.

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Chinese Antivirus Firm Was Part of APT41 ‘Supply Chain’ Attack
If the war on China hasn”t gotten bad, I recently read this article and I wonder now if any software coming out of China would be of value? I don’t want to say for one minute that software from any country is bad, but seeing that China and their software have been in the news as of late, I really wonder what is going on. This might be good to talk about.

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Lame-duck versions of TikTok and WeChat are definitely a problem, security experts say
This was liked on Linked in, and I really think this hould be talked about. This is no laughing matter, as software not updated is gold for cybercriminals. With Tick Tok’s problems and the apparent ban which will be coming soon in the United States, this may be the end for these popular pieces of software.

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I’m sure there’s more, but as I’ve said, I’ve been under the weather this week. Be safe out there!

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APPLE watch 7

I didn’t see this when perusing Apple Vis on Wednesday, and am seeing it now as I peruse. Info on Apple watch 7 can be found. Since I’m not an apple watch user, I do not have experience with this, so someone else will have to let the blog know what they think. Enjoy!

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The Security box, podcast 10 for September 16, 2020

Hello folks,

Welcome to the security box. On this episode found on the RSS feed, we have a very nice interview with Michael in Indiana I think everyone will be interested in. The program is 3 hrs, 38 minutes but its OK to go over.

T he news wasn’t covered but that is OK, we can do a double dip of news next time. If you find anything in the news section of the following notes, please let me know what interests you.

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Notes follow:

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Welcome to podcast 10 of the security box. On this edition of the program, we’re going to leave room for Michael in Indiana to talk to us about phone stuff. We’ll also have some other stuff as well.

Topics

• Phishing has all kinds of forms, and the Security Box, podcast 5 only covered a little bit. Podcast 345 of the tech podcast series also covered Phishing. Also, we’ve covered Phishing in articles that I’ve read as well. This search page from the blog will bring up everything on phishing that might be of interest to you. Recently, I’ve learned about tricky types of phishing using services out there that can produce documents and forms for free or low cost. Tricky Forms of Phishing | Tricky ‘Forms’ of Phishing is the topic on this first segment of the program today. Did you know there are 13 different sites that can produce documents and forms that could trick users in to divulging information they shouldn’t? The only one out of the 13 I’ve used is Google documents, but I’ll talk about the 13 different ones in turn. Time to learn.
• Recently, I’ve read an article talking about doing your due diligence . Do you do yours? Looks like a scammer knows how to play it well, and the name seems to be well known. The article Due Diligence That Money Can’t Buy talkes about someone by the name of John Bernard. What a facinating story!
• Michael in Tennessee came on about a ransomware attack effecting Neuhal. We’ll have more next week on this.
• Michael in Indiana will be on talking about phone systems, security, and what he has seen in the landscape as an administrator.

News

Due to the time of the interview, news did not get aired this week. I’ll keep this for a show next week, and we’ll reference this next week. If you find anything from the below section you want covered, you’re welcome to have your thoughts heard. Here’s the news from this week we didn’t cover that might be of interest to you.

• News Notes September 12, 2020 is the main source for news this time.

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Thanks so much for checking out the podcast, and make it a great day!

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Samsung seems to be the top dog in phones

In an opinion piece, written on android Central, there is a good case on why Samsung is the best phone maker out there. In the article Why Samsung only cares about ‘Android’ and ‘Google’ when it’s convenient it is with good reason that Samsung writes operating systems around a platform it choses which is Android. If it is made to work, and they continue to push updates as Michael in Tennessee says they do, this should be the phone that people get. If they’re interested in a working android with good operability, this is the perfect match. What do others think? What do you think about the opinion piece?

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