I read an article about how Americans feel about a hot button issue, especially in the last two years: Internet privacy. The results might surprise you.
Yes, Americans care very much about their privacy, especially online. Ninety-three percent of Americans say control of who gets information about them is important. Ninety percent say what kind of information is collected about them is important. And Americans want to be left alone, especially online. Eighty-eight percent of Americans polled say they don’t want someone watching, reading, or listening in on their online activity without their knowledge or approval. The only issue that Americans are somewhat less passionate about is being identified, and the keyword is somewhat. Only sixty-three percent think it’s important to go out in public without authorities asking them to identify themselves. Participants in this survey have very little faith in the government or corporate America protecting their privacy. Thirty-one percent believe the government can keep their privacy safe. That same number applies to land-line telephone companies (yes, there’s still such a thing). Believe it or not, credit card companies did a little better. This poll said 38% of Americans trusted them to keep their information and privacy safe. The majority of Americans aren’t confident their search engine, social media, or videos will remain private and secure. That means over 60% of Americans think the government or some other entity will dig in our online information without our knowledge or approval.
So for those who say Americans don’t care about online privacy, or agree with being spied on, they don’t. Most just don’t know what to do about it. This is step one. Let’s continue with these studies and polls. Keep knowing the powers-that-be violation of online privacy, no matter if it’s done be hackers or done by the Feds, is not okay. Don’t let this issue go away until it’s solved. What do these numbers tell you?
I read a scary statistic this morning. The year 2014 turned out to be the biggest year in cyber hacks and attacks. They cost businesses and individuals billions, not to mention the personal mayhem they cause people.
Now we learn cyber attacks are costing our medical system. In fact, hacks against the health care industry have doubled so far in the 2010s. Nobody is immune. It’s estimated 90% of the health care industry got breached in the past two years. These criminal cyber attacks costs medical care providers $6 billion a year. It took an episode like a major hack like what happened to Anthem Inc. to wake many experts up to this threat. There’s a reason cyber criminals salivate over medical records, which contain social security numbers and not to mention intimate details about your health. Medical records sell 20 times as much as credit card information. The thief can open up a credit line or get free medical care by using the victim’s insurance ID. Well, free for the criminal; the victim and victim’s insurance company would be paying for it. In 2014 alone, around 88 million people’s information were compromised. That’s double the number of victims in 2010. And 2015 is already even worse. This year 80 million Anthem records were compromised. So were 11 million Premara Blue Cross records. You do the math.
My question is: Why isn’t the media talking about this? It’s one thing for credit cards to be compromised. But when medical records are compromised, health and life are on the line. If somebody’s medical records are compromised, someone could get misdiagnosed, and accidentally killed because of mixed records caused by cyber criminals. Of course I doubt cyber criminals care if their victims live or die. But the tech world and the media must let the public know of such dangers in the medical community. And they need to be taught how to protect themselves. What is it going to take?
Last year, President Obama’s email accounts were hacked, as was an unclassified computer system. Now, investigators say that this hack was more severe than first announced.
The Russian hackers also got deep into the State Department’s unclassified computer system. That’s how they got many email archives from people in and out of the White House. Thankfully, no classified information has been compromised. But some of the information they got was sensitive: conversations with ambassadors, potential legislation, policy debates. They got all they needed to learn a lot about the Federal government. What makes this situation even scarier is the culprits seem to be either in the Russian government or hired by the Russian government. Neither the number of these hacks, nor the number of the emails compromised, are known. Investigators call the cyber attack among the most sophisticated they’ve ever seen. This hacking causing debate about President Obama and his aides’ cyber security, despite the President himself taking more precautions, especially emailing outside the White House computer system. But hardly a day goes by when the White House isn’t cyber attacked. Granted most of the attacks are minor, but they still keep coming.
China has also been known to commit hacks on the White House. But what concerns me about the Russian government possibly being behind this is the strained US/Russian relations over the last several years. Obama and Putin have rarely agreed on anything, from the Ukrainian conflict to the handling of Edward Snowden. Some say the relations between these two nations today are just as bad as the Cold War era. Earlier this year, there was a Moscow parade in which a phony missile was paraded with the President’s name on it! Some may say, “You’re overacting; that was probably a joke.” I sure wasn’t laughing. This is why something needs to be done about international hacking. What if Russia knew our secrets? What could that lead to?
Last week, a security watchdog named Chris Roberts jokingly tweeted about lapse of cyber security on airplanes. Roberts’ tweet was enough for federal government agencies like the FBI and TSA to take notice and warn.
Both these agencies now alert airlines to be on guard against potential tampering of networks and communication systems. They’re even claims that a hacker could electronically take control of a plane right from a pilot. When this claim hasn’t been proven, and while there is no specific, credible threats, authorities are concerned. There’s an alert on the FBI’s InfraGard site advises flight attendants and other flight employees to look for passengers plugging in ports beneath the seats. This alert calls for airline employees to look for passengers removing network port covers, and posting social media messages threatening onboard network systems and air traffic controllers. Also last week, a government reported exposed unsecured connections between passenger Wi-Fi networks and aviation systems. Around this same time, Chris Roberts tweeted a joke about hacking into the system so he could make the oxygen mask could come down. A scathing government report and a scathing public tweet within days from each other…not a positive sign.
First off, don’t follow Roberts’ example! Chris Roberts is a computer security professional, and after his flight arrived in Syracuse, he was met and thoroughly interviewed by the FBI, and they seized his electronics. If you joke about airline security in this matter, you could get the same fate, and even worse. When reports talked about tampering with ports beneath the seats, many probably don’t even know such ports exist. We all know about the ports on the seats for in-flight entertainment. I‘m hoping they didn’t accidentally give hackers a clue by telling them where secret ports are. Lastly, don’t panic! We don’t even know if such threats are possible. In the 21st century, every potential threat should be investigated, so long as it doesn’t trample on our rights or liberties. Can we be hacked at 30,000 feet?
It is like catching the cold virus, it is spread by other people through bacteria, reproducing until the system is infected and sick. It is one of the most common computer repair issues that are out there. No one wants a virus, it does not feel good, and they restrict your activity as well as keep people at a distance from you. The computer virus acts much like the biological virus in that it has the same effects, only it infects files and spreads electronically. In this article I will define the virus, explain how it spreads, and how to tell the difference between a virus and other forms of attacks.
The basic definition of a virus is a series of written instructions in a computer program that is designed to reproduce and infect another computer. It is programming code that’s purpose is to destroy another program. Most of the time a user will not?realize?that they have a virus because they can take the form of a regular program, or hide deep in your system files?unbeknownst?to anyone it is there.
Anti-virus programs have been fighting a never-ending battle with hackers, people who want to rip off and spread chaos throughout people’s computers. How do they spread? A real computer virus can only be spread by a human who inserts it into the target computer himself via floppy or disc, or even sending it over the internet.
The first “wild” virus, that is, a virus that appeared out of the computer lab back in the 70’s, actually attacked the Apple DOS system. Back then, the only way to really create a virus and have it spread was through hands-on work like inserting a floppy disk into a computer.
Viruses spread when they are attached to the .exe or executable file. Say you want to open a program that has been on your computer for a while, you trust it to work properly and it does. But a hacker hooks a virus to the .exe file that the next time you open the program the virus takes effect, damaging the files and ruining the program.
That is the main idea of a computer virus, to attach to a file (cell) and jumping to other files like it, until the computer is no longer usable. At Computer Geeks calls come in about viruses?or recovering a computer from an attack. So what can you do about it to prevent your computer even further than the anti-virus protection is.
When in doubt, and when your computer is definitely infected, choose the System Restore that was explained earlier in the November blogs. This will turn back the clock to a time when ?your computer was not infected. But hackers are getting smarter, making their viruses disable the Control Panel, or messing with the System Restore so that the computer gets restored to the same day the virus started.
The difference between the virus and other programs like adware, spyware, and malware, is that the virus spreads and reproduces. It is a catch-all phrase for all the bad stuff that happens on a computer. When something starts to go wrong, people think virus because it makes sense. But knowing exactly what is wrong with your computer can allow whoever you ask to fix it to do it faster and perhaps recover the files. And if you need help you can always call us at Computer Geeks
You’ve probably been told if you see a crime or suspicious activity going on, call your local authorities. Think of the see something, say something campaign. But you can always be assured you and your information will be confidential, right? Well…
Maybe confidentiality isn’t so protected, especially if it’s done online. An investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) revealed any information reporting crime, corruption, or cyber misbehavior can easily be intercepted by hackers. Even the whistle blower’s personal information is at risked of being intercepted. The problem is such sites don’t use the kind of encryption technology now used for privacy protection online. There is a push by privacy rights advocates and federal government officials, like federal chief information officer Tony Scott, to have better encryption on all government websites. This concern is shared by IG’s (Inspector Generals). Inspector Generals are internal watchdogs watching federal agencies. An ACLU tech named Christopher?Soghoian says, “Whistle blowers put their careers and live on the line when they report to IGs. That process needs to be secure as possible.”
Perhaps even scarier is that it’s not just hackers and cyber crooks and bullies intercepting confidential information. Sometimes it’s the federal agencies themselves. This is why we needed better encryption and better protection…yesterday! It’s a shame when a whistle blower, or a concerned citizen can’t even stop the bad guys because poor security could lead to possible retaliation. We must do better, even if it’s for no other reason than protect IGs. Is it going to take an unfortunate incident by a cyber sociopath for this to change? I hope not. And the ACLU being just as concerned about inside interceptions opens up another can of concerns. If private businesses, charities and other organizations can get this critical protection, then why can’t anti-crime agencies? If such agencies are doing the interceptions, then the cynic in me asks, do they even want to fix to fix this issue?
