Anybody else have their NCAA brackets busted on day one of the tournament? We had to offer a $200 gift card to the winner to drum up enough interest to get an office challenge going, and I should’ve just left it alone. It’s a bad omen when you lose the first game of the tournament (the Buckeyes), and it’s gone down hill from there. That said, our engineer Sam is currently batting 1.000, having nailed all of the first round upsets; High Point, VCU, A&M, and UT. If these keeps up, we’ll have to start calling him Rain Man!
Anyhow, sorry to miss you last week. We got in one last round of skiing at Killington, VT… I sweated all week leading up to the trip as weather up there was in the 50s with rain. “Fortunately”, it cooled off enough to give us a nice icy day on Friday, before a good powder day on Saturday. And with that, my ski gear has been put away for the season. Time to find the golf clubs and fishing rods!
Now for something a little more interesting, scroll on down for travel tips, selling your house, AI hackers, and more. Enjoy!
Something about ...
Identity Compromise
With endpoint detection (formerly known as ‘anti-virus’) solutions getting better and better, hackers need a different way to get into networks. It turns out that identity compromise is becoming more popular as a way to do that. A couple of key reminders from this piece; businesses that see a lot of cash transfers, like architecture, construction, and law firms are a big target. And, hackers rely on end users who panic under pressure, not taking the time to confirm that (for example), the “help desk” engineer who just called them really is a help desk engineer.
Training Your Replacement
Door Dash is now offering to pay it’s drivers for recording tasks for the purpose of training AI. Door Dash portrays it as “allowing Door Dashers new ways to earn money, flexibly…” Seems to me that they’re paying drivers in the short run to make it easier for AI and bots to do the job in the long run…
AI Hackers
AI seems to be making it easier and easier for hackers to gain entry into systems and networks. Initially, hackers needed to be expert in their craft to get into a network. Then came the idea of ransomware as a service, where code was sold online that allowed just about anybody to create their own hacking campaigns. And now, AI is making it easy(easier) for people to gain access, just by knowing the correct prompts to write, so that AI can provide answers to their questions as to how to get into a network, how to move laterally once in, and so on.
Just another reminder that cybersecurity is a multi-layered solution, and that end users are your first line of defense.
Food and Travel
I like to travel, and I like food. So, with the abundance of food and travel items that came through the inbox this week, I figured I’d combine them into one nice little box…
If you’ve never done a food tour of a city, I’d highly recommend it on your next trip. We’ve done them in Stockholm and Charleston (Bulldog, as mentioned in the article), off the top of my head. Probably others. Regardless, a great way to see the city and try the local delicacies, while also getting your daily steps in.
And while your next food tour may not include the local 7/11, it sounds like maybe you should stop during a free moment.
And if you plan it properly, maybe you can get your health care insurance to cover that trip to Stockholm. It’s doctor approved, after all…
Real Estate
Earlier this week, Travis sent me an article about a guy in Miami who sold his house using nothing but AI; he determined pricing, developed the marketing, figured out how to list on the MLS, and even drafted a contract. And claims to have saved thousands by not using a real estate agent.
The next day, Nancy sent me two Instagram posts from reality TV real estate agent Ryan Serhant; all about how ChatGPT blew up a $50M deal and then the importance of what AI can and can’t do as it relates to the real world
and how he got the deal back.
Phishing
Here’s your regular reminder that, when it seems too good to be true, it probably is. The newest phishing scam revolves around hackers convincing people to provide all of their Amazon or PayPal account information via LiveChat, all to get a $200 refund. Poor grammar, a sense of urgency, or an offer of something for free should all be red flags. Yet people still fall for these things and that gives cyber criminals a reason to keep using them… Trust but verify.
Social Media Data Theft
According to at least one security researcher, whenever you click an ad in Facebook (Meta) or TikTok and move to that advertiser’s website, Meta and TikTok are taking every piece of your personal information they can collect. They’ll track what you’re putting in your shopping cart, what you’re purchasing, what currency you’re using, your name, address, and anything else they can grab. And of course TikTok and Meta say it’s up to the advertisers to do a better job with their settings and permissions so that this doesn’t happen.
That’s all for this week. Didn’t think I was going to get this done in time, but I did! If you’re looking for something to watch this weekend (other than the obvious- March Madness), there’s a new documentary about the Red Hot Chili Peppers that looks like it’ll be good. And if the Peppers aren’t your thing, you can always watch this interview with the guy who was in charge of cybersecurity for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Have a great weekend!
Abbey