Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

In our next installment of the Castle Defense 101 series, I’ll help you to choose the web browser that will keep you safe and protect your privacy. We’ll talk about the big four (Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome) as well as some others you’ve never heard of. I walk you through the things you need to consider when comparing these browsers and explain why the choice can be tricky. In the end, I’ll share my personal browser strategy and recommend several free browser add-ons that will make you even safer! In the news: Facebook recommends that you upload your nude photos so that they can protect you and a cheeky New Zealand company has created a new automated service that enables some sweet revenge on all those spam emailers. For Further Insight: ExpressVPN Browser rankings: https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/best-browsers-for-privacy/ RE: Scam, spammer chatbot: https://www.rescam.org/ Help me to help you! Visit: https://patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons

The law that enables the warrantless collection and searching of the communications of US citizens is set to expire at the end of 2017. In today’s show, David Ruiz and I discuss several bills in Congress that attempt to curb the rampant abuses of this legislation (Section 702 of the FISA law). These long-overdue reforms go a long way towards restoring the principles of the Fourth Amendment and reclaiming basic civil liberties that we let slip away in fear after 9/11. In the news this week, I’ll update you on the Reaper botnet and tell you about an effort to safeguard our elections systems before the next major election. I’ll also help you double-check your smartphone app permissions, making sure they don’t have any more access than they need to things like your camera, microphone, location, and contacts. David Ruiz is a writer covering NSA surveillance and federal surveillance policy for Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights non-profit. As 2017 closes, he is deeply involved in covering the multip

We have a lot to catch up on! This week we discuss a Bad Rabbit, a grim Reaper, and some risky Russians. A new WannaCry-like ransomware is hitting Russia and Ukraine, Kaspersky Labs is dealing with a PR nightmare, and a new botnet is forming up that could make last year’s Mirai botnet that took down Netflix, Twitter and AirBND look like small potatoes. We also have some hopeful Android news and discuss how Bitcoin mining might save us from the ad-based web. For Further Insight: Before paying a ransom for your data, check this site! www.nomoreransom.org Full article on Reaper and securing your IoT devices: http://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/locking-internet-things-iot/ Help me to help you! Visit: https://patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons

Web ads are the bane of our web-surfing existence, and yet people repeatedly reject the notion of paying for web content. How do we strike a balance? Today I speak at length with Ben Williams from Eyeo, the maker of one of the most popular web browser plugins of all time: AdBlock Plus. His company pioneered the notion of ‘acceptable ads’ and has returned some semblance of sanity to our web browsing experience, while preserving the revenue model that has allowed most web sites to remain free. We discuss the history and future of ads on the web, including the threat of ‘malvertising’ that can actually infect your computer. In the news, I’ll get you up to speed on the hideous KRACK WiFi bug that affects billions of devices worldwide and explain why it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Ben Williams is from the greatest commonwealth of them all, Kentucky, and has lived in Berlin, Washington, DC and now in Bonn, Germany. Before joining eyeo, the company that makes Adblock Plus and Flattr, as communications directo

In the second of my two-part interview with activist and author Cory Doctorow, we discuss how copy protection schemes (called “Digital Rights Management”) is trying to control how you watch, save, and share the digital movies, books and music you thought you owned. Cory explains how the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has caved into corporate interests and set the stage for serious future security issues with all web browsers. In the news this week are some serious bugs in both Microsoft and Apple products, an update on an important court case involving the First Amendment and DreamHost, and long-overdue updates to the accepted ‘best practices’ on creating passwords (and an apology from the guy who caused us all so much grief). My tip of the week will speed up your web browsing and help protect your surfing privacy. Listen to Part 1: The Mouse That Scored, How Copyright Went Wrong Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger — the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and t

In the first of a two-part interview, activist and author Cory Doctorow explains how copyright law has failed to keep up with the realities of the modern digital world, potentially exposing consumers and researchers to crushing lawsuits and generally stifling innovation. Unlike physical books and LP records, every song or movie you stream, every eBook you read, every app you download is accompanied by long, arcane licensing agreements that we never read. Cory explains why this makes no sense and why we must update this body of law to protect consumers and unleash new products. In the news, I’ll tell you about some password bugs in macOS, new security measures coming in Android’s Oreo release, and update you on the Equifax debacle. My Tip of the Week will help you avoid some nasty wireless vulnerabilities affecting literally billions of device (including laptops and smartphones). Listen to Part 2: Do We Own Any Media We Buy Anymore? Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger —

Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not tracking you! And just because you feel that you have nothing to hide doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be worried about privacy. In today’s edition of my Castle Defense 101 series, I spell out why privacy matters and why companies and governments are hell bent on violating it. I’ll also explain the myriad ways by which your web habits are tracked and then give you several simple ways you can protect yourself. Have you ever used the CCleaner app on your computer? If so, you’ll want to hear about a recent hack of this app’s installer and how to fix it. For Further Insight:  Want to see what just one company knows about you? https://aboutthedata.com/ Why Privacy Matters: https://www.ted.com/talks/glenn_greenwald_why_privacy_matters How easy are you to track on the web? https://panopticlick.eff.org/ Help me to help you! Visit: https://patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons

Will the robots rise up and take over? Or will Artificial Intelligence usher in a Utopian future? These concepts may have seemed like science fiction just 10-20 years ago, but visionaries like Elon Musk are warning us to take the notion of true AI very seriously. Like any powerful tool, the impact of AI will depend on how we develop and use it. In this week’s episode, I discuss the good, the bad and the ugly implications of AI and machine learning with technologist Albert Stepanyan. We’ve learned more about the Equifax debacle since last week - I’ll catch you up on everything you need to know, including another important tip on how to monitor your credit and protect yourself from identity theft. Albert Stepanyan is an A.I. Evangelist and Entrepreneur who loves code. He hasan entrepreneurial mindset with a passion for coding. Currently, he acts as the CEO and lead strategist at Develandoo, a software accelerator that is changing the way companies build products. His experience includes acting as CTO of a Mun

Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus, was hacked - over 143 million U.S. accounts may have been leaked, making them much more vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. In this episode, I help you understand the potential impacts of this breach and give you several important actions you can take to protect yourself, including instituting a credit freeze on your account. Chris Romeo, CEO and Founder of Security Journey will help us understand the severity of this major news story and what we need to do to protect ourselves moving forward! Is there such a thing as a good hacker? We will tackle what it takes to be a hacker - and why you actually might want to become one! Hackers are not all bad guys in hoodies hunched over a laptop. The hacker mentality is much more about a desire to tinker and solve puzzles, just applied to computers - and we need good hackers to help us combat the bad ones. Chris Romeo is CEO and co-founder of Security Journey. His passion is to bring security belt programs to all org

Do you have backup copies of all your family photos and home videos? What about your tax documents and other financial data? Maybe you have a collection of priceless family history information that you’ve painstakingly compiled over many years. Unless you’re keeping copies of those files in multiple places (including at least one place outside your home!), you’re flying without a net. You’re one minor or major disaster away from losing them forever. Luckily, there are several simple and cost-effective solutions for automatically backing up all your files, photos, music and movies. In today’s show, part two of the Castle Defense 101 series, I’ll lay out a foolproof strategy for protecting your most precious digital data! For Further Insight: Help me to help you! Visit: https://patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons Backblaze offers an affordable, easy-to-use cloud backup solution - try it for free! For complete step-by-step help with backups and over 100 other tips, check out my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Drago

There are bills before Congress to use drones along our border for mass surveillance and provisions to capturing all manner of biometric data when you travel. How will that data be used and who will have access? We break it all down for you and tell you how to voice your opinions. India McKinney and Adam Schwartz from the EFF are with me this week to explain several ways that your privacy rights are under serious attack at the U.S. border. Your favorite PDF viewer is probably riddled with security vulnerabilities. I cover some recent news about Foxit PDF Reader and help you find safer alternatives with my Tip of the Week. India McKinney is a Legislative Analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, primarily focusing on privacy and surveillance issues in upcoming legislation. Prior to joining EFF, India spent over 10 years in Washington, DC as a legislative staffer to three members of Congress from California. Her work there largely focused on the appropriations process, specifically analyzing and fundin

Jeffrey Ritter, author of “Achieving Digital Trust”, is back to help us understand the phenomenon of “fake news” and to explain why it’s not a new thing. We talk about how deception and misdirection have been around since the dawn of marketing and how we can train ourselves to navigate these treacherous waters in the Information Age. Google is claiming they can match your offline, real-world purchases with their online ad tracking and the US government is proposing legislation that might finally being some much-needed security standards to the burgeoning “Internet of Things” marketplace. Jeffrey Ritter currently serves as an External Lecturer at two of the world’s great universities for computer science, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Oxford, where he teaches graduate level courses in privacy engineering, information governance, and information security policy design. His career includes legal services to global corporations, leadership in the work of the United Nations and the American Bar

Chris Romeo regales us with tales of safe-cracking robots, demonic car washes, possessed Teslas, and hacking of voting machines! Where did this all happen? At the hacker conferences, of course! We’ll help you understand how hackers really think and what they really do every year in Las Vegas at the DEFCON and BlackHat conferences. Chris Romeo is CEO and co-founder of Security Journey. His passion is to bring security belt programs to all organizations, large and small. He was the Chief Security Advocate at Cisco Systems for five years, where he guided Cisco’s Security Advocates, empowering engineers to “build security in” to all products at Cisco. He led the creation of Cisco’s internal, end-to-end security belt program launched in 2012. Chris has twenty years of experience in security, holding positions across the gamut, including application security, penetration testing, and incident response. Chris holds the CISSP and CSSLP. For Further Insight: Website, www.securityjourney.com Follow on Twitter, 

In this final segment, we address the classic conundrum: law enforcement believes that your servers hold key information that would prevent a devastating terror attack, but revealing the information may violate the privacy of the client, or even other unrelated people. What do you do? Ladar Levison answers that very question. Prior to the interview, I explain what "secure email" really means and what it entails - it’s not nearly as simple as it might seem. And time is running out to submit your backup horror stories or maybe success stories! Send your tales to CareyParker@AmericaOutLoud.com for your chance to win a free copy of my book! Ladar Levison serves as the founder, president, and chief executive of Lavabit, where he has worked the past 12 years. Lavabit was created because Mr. Levison believes that privacy is a fundamental, necessary right for a functioning, free and fair democratic society. Presently, Mr. Levison is focused on Lavabit’s Dark Mail Initiative, which aims to make end-to-end email encry

Ladar Levison is the CEO and Founder of Lavabit - a secure email service whose most famous customer was Edward Snowden. In part one of my two-part interview with Ladar, we discuss what happened when the FBI came knocking on his door, demanding access to his private security keys. Ladar shares some deep insights into the notion of privacy and intelligence gathering in this country, and how to strike the proper balance. I will also update you on the hot news from two top hacker conferences, including a nasty Mac virus and a bug in Broadcom WiFi chips found in over 1 BILLION devices worldwide. And I will tell you about one of the oldest and best fact-checking sites on the web, and why they need your help. For Further Insight: Website: www.lavabit.com Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kingladar Additional Resources: Sign up for Lavabit secure email: https://lavabit.com/ How to remove Flash: http://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/ditch-flash/ The web’s original fact checker: http://snopes.com/

Is trust just an emotion or is it more than that? In this week’s episode, I speak at length with Jeffrey Ritter: a lawyer, diplomat, researcher and author of the book “Achieving Digital Trust”. We get to the heart of what it means to trust, how trust is gained and lost, and how living in the Information Age has had such a profound impact on all of the above. Jeffrey has some deep insights on how we can cope with the high rate of data and decision making inherent in this modern life - and shares some interesting stories along the way! Jeffrey Ritter currently serves as an External Lecturer at two of the world’s great universities for computer science, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Oxford, where he teaches graduate level courses in privacy engineering, information governance, and information security policy design. His career includes legal services to global corporations, leadership in the work of the United Nations and the American Bar Association, and ongoing academic research and

What could be more crucial to a democracy than a voting system we can trust? Today I speak with Barbara Simons, President of VerifiedVoting.org, on why so many of our US election systems are vulnerable to hacking without leaving a trace. The solutions to these issues are well known and straightforward, and yet we can’t seem to come together in a unified way to implement them. We’ll discuss why the current systems are so bad, what needs to be done, and tell you what you can do to help. I will also tell you about a new file backup tool from Google, 14M Verizon customer records found online with no protection, why you might be wary about leaving your keys lying around in plain sight, and how to improve your privacy with Post-It Notes! Barbara Simons has been on the Board of Advisors of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission since 2008. She published Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count?, a book on voting machines co-authored with Douglas Jones. She also co-authored the report that led to the cancellation of D

Passwords are the bane of our modern existence. Why the hell haven’t we figured out a better way to prove who we are? Today is the first in a series of educational shows that I’ve dubbed Castle Defense 101: Defending Your Digital Drawbridge. In our inaugural session, we’ll take a deep dive into the problem of passwords. What really makes a good password and how do I choose one? How can I possibly remember all these passwords? How often do I need to change my password? Why do we even need passwords, anyway - can’t we just use fingerprints or something? I will answer all of these questions and then some. I’ll even tell you why you should only ever know one single password! And finally, I’ll tell you how you can win a free copy of my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons! Domain names SAVE10% off your first order! For Further Insight: Some excellent password managers: LastPass , 1Password , Dashlane , Passwords Are Dead Long Live Passwords Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons: A Step-By-Step Guide to Computer Security for

Lawrence Abrams is the creator and CEO of Bleeping Computer, and he and I delve into the latest malware sweeping the globe called NotPetya (among other things). The supposed ransomware appears to be just plain mean, destroying all the data on your hard drive whether you pay the ransom or not. We’ll tell you what you need to know, including how to protect yourself and what to do if you think you might be infected. We talk about the usefulness of anti-virus software and give you the info you need to pick the right one for you. Finally, in my Tip of the Week, I explain why you need more than one account on your computer and how it can help to mitigate and isolate malware attacks. Lawrence Abrams is the creator and owner of BleepingComputer.com. Lawrence’s area of expertise includes malware research, ransomware, and computer forensics. For Further Insight: Web site: BleepingComputer.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/BleepinComputer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BleepingComputer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedi

Are you ready for the next YouTube, Netflix or Hulu? Then you need to fight to save net neutrality. Today I discuss the threatened gutting of the hard-fought net neutrality rules with Ernesto Falcon from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The new FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, is looking to undo the protections put into place that would allow the next Internet startup to compete on a level playing field. Internet Service Providers would like to put their massive thumbs on the digital scale, tipping the advantage to companies that can afford to pay or even to favor their own content. Now that we have deep-pocketed incumbents, we need net neutrality rules to allow the new guys a chance to compete fairly. In the news, we’ll discuss the 198M voter profiles that were left unprotected on the web, Microsoft’s abandonment of SMBv1 (that’s a good thing), Google’s move to respect your email privacy, and Girl Scouts becoming cyber experts! In my Tip of the Week, I’ll tell you how to avoid giving away too much information whe