Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast
384 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 50 ratingsA Podcast on Computer Security & Privacy for Non-Techies
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Episodes
🎧 It’s Time to End Dragnet Mass Surveillance
November 09, 2017 16:02 - 79.3 MBThe 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...
🎧 Beware the Reaper – Lock Down Your LAN
November 02, 2017 13:52 - 77.3 MBWe 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 pay...
🎧 Using Ad Blockers to Tame Those Annoying Web Ads
October 26, 2017 21:48 - 78.6 MBWeb 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. ...
Do We Own Any Media We Buy Anymore?
October 19, 2017 15:26 - 76.9 MBIn 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...
The Mouse That Scored, How Copyright Went Wrong
October 12, 2017 11:26 - 77.5 MBIn 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 ...
🎧 Goodbye Privacy, Hello Panopticon
October 05, 2017 17:22 - 78.6 MBJust 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...
🎧 Rise of the Machines: Should We Fear Artificial Intelligence?
September 21, 2017 13:39 - 77.7 MBWill 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 le...
🎧 Equifax Breach, Here’s What You Need to Do
September 15, 2017 00:10 - 77.7 MBEquifax, 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 wh...
🎧 If You Aren’t Backing Up, Your Data is on Borrowed Time
September 07, 2017 12:39 - 77.2 MBDo 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-...
Your Privacy Rights Are Under Assault at the U.S. Border
August 31, 2017 16:03 - 73.5 MBThere 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 se...
🎧 How to Live in the Era of Fake News
August 24, 2017 18:10 - 79.4 MBJeffrey 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 fin...
🎧 Hackers Crack Safes, Teslas, Car Washes and Voting Machines
August 17, 2017 18:20 - 78.9 MBChris 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 Secur...
Why I Killed my Company to Save my Customers, pt 2
August 10, 2017 14:58 - 77.9 MBIn 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 yo...
Why I Killed my Company to Save my Customers
August 03, 2017 13:39 - 75.5 MBLadar 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, in...
🎧 Achieving Trust in the Digital Age
July 27, 2017 14:09 - 73.7 MBIs 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 shar...
🎧 How To Hack An Election
July 20, 2017 13:08 - 76.5 MBWhat 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...
🎧 Creating and Remembering Killer Passwords
July 13, 2017 22:00 - 77.9 MBPasswords 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 pass...
NotPetya Malware Strikes, Everything You Need to Know
July 07, 2017 01:38 - 77.1 MBLawrence 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 ne...
Don’t Tread on My Bits: Why Net Neutrality Matters
June 28, 2017 14:26 - 78.1 MBAre 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...
🎧 If You Use Public WiFi At The Hotel, Airport, Coffee Shop….
June 21, 2017 10:37 - 77.3 MBIf you use public WiFi of any sort at the hotel, airport, or coffee shop (AND WHO DOESN'T), then you need to pay attention. A VPN could be a viable answer to protect your data and your devices. The other big challenge is your Internet Service Provider at home is probably capturing and selling your web browsing info - there is something you can do at home to protect yourself as well. Dave Peck helped to create one of the best Virtual Private Network products on the market, and today he and I ...
🎧 The Feds Plan For Cars That Can Track & Tattle On You
June 14, 2017 16:55 - 74.7 MBThe Internet of Things will soon include cars... what could possibly go wrong? If all the cars on the road could tell each other what they were doing, would that make us safer? Maybe. But if your car is constantly broadcasting this information, that would also make it trivial to track you everywhere you go. Worse yet, any time you put something on a network, it is immediately a target for hackers. Crashing a computer is one thing; crashing a car is quite different, but this is quickly becomin...
How Dumb Are Your ‘Smart Devices’?
June 07, 2017 14:32 - 75.5 MBDo you have a “smart” TV? Or an Internet-connected baby monitor? Then you are a part of the Internet of Things (IoT)! Welcome to the world of everyday devices being connected to the network, allowing you to change the temperature of your home while traveling, check up on your dogs from work, and have a Bluetooth speaker that can also fetch tomorrow’s weather forecast. While there are lots of great uses for these devices, their security (or lack thereof) is making many of us vulnerable to atta...
🎧 Cyber Travel Tips: What To Know Before You Go
May 31, 2017 15:13 - 77.1 MBSummer is upon us and for many of us that means travel - but before you even pack your bags, you need to listen to this podcast! In my second interview with Michael Kaiser (the Executive Director of the National Cyber Security Alliance), we discuss all the cyber security and privacy issues you need to consider: before you go and while you’re traveling. Going abroad this summer? There are even more things you need to consider well before you leave! Also in this episode, I’ll tell you why Twit...
Learn These WannaCry Lessons Before Round 2 Hits
May 24, 2017 18:11 - 78.7 MBThe WannaCry virus hit over 200,000 computers in over 150 countries in a matter of days. While WannaCry spread quickly, it had some fatal flaws that prevented it from doing a lot more damage. However, these flaws will soon be fixed - Round 2 of this virus is already upon us. I speak with Michael Kaiser from the National Cyber Security Alliance to find the lessons we need to learn and what we need to do to protect ourselves from the next generations of this nasty malware. We also take a good l...
🎧 Inoculating the World Against Malware
May 17, 2017 21:32 - 77.6 MBThe WannaCry ransomware worm spread across the planet is a matter of hours, infecting over 200,000 computers in just a matter of hours - this included hospitals in the UK, phone service in Spain, and even a Russian ministry. The malware was stopped dead by one security researcher who basically got lucky. In today’s show, I will explain what WannaCry is and how to ensure that you are protected again this nasty bug and others just like it that will surely be coming. My guest today is security r...
🎧 Intel Closes a Nine-Year Backdoor
May 10, 2017 16:50 - 76.7 MBThis week I’ll tell you why you should not be using Microsoft’s Edge Browser, how to find out if you were bitten by a very clever Google Docs phishing scheme, and why you can’t believe every voice you hear. Along the way, I’ll give you my recommendations on the best web browser to use as well as how to revoke permissions you may have granted to Twitter, Facebook and Google over the years that may be leaving your vulnerable. Finally, I’ll tell you how Intel finally found and fixed a flaw in th...
Your Email is as Vulnerable as Sending a Postcard
May 03, 2017 18:00 - 77.3 MBWould you write banking information, passwords, private conversation or any sensitive data on the back of a postcard? Sounds like a silly question perhaps - but this is the equivalency of writing private information in your public emails. Your emails are NOT secure. Today I'm going to help you understand the options available to you so you don't get caught with your drawbridge down! I have an insightful discussion with Dr Andy Yen, the CEO and Co-Founder of Protonmail. We discuss why regular...
🎧 When the Hackers Become the Hacked
April 19, 2017 13:52 - 75.6 MBThe Shadow Brokers have dumped a treasure trove of NSA secret hacking tools, proving that even the best secret-keepers in the country can’t always prevent info from leaking. Is it better for intelligence agencies to hoard software vulnerabilities for use against others, or to report those vulnerabilities so they can be fixed? I delve into this topic in detail, exploring the pros and cons. What if you could do one simple thing to protect your computer from most critical software bugs? It’s no...
🎧 How to Pick The Only Password You’ll Ever Need
April 12, 2017 18:55 - 76.7 MBThis week I talk with Chris Romeo on why humans are so horribly bad at picking good passwords and why this invariably makes you vulnerable to hacking. We discuss password managers and how to create the one and only password you should ever need. Along the way, we’ll explain things like two-factor authentication, how often you should be changing your passwords, and how to make sure your accounts can still be accessible if the worst happens. In the news this week, I’ll tell you about a nasty W...
🎧 Congress Just Sold You Out (Again)
April 05, 2017 20:55 - 78.1 MBThis week I discuss the stunning repeal of Internet privacy provisions with Ernesto Falcon from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Congress narrowly passed a bill that would not only toss out the regulations that would have given consumers much-needed transparency and choice in how their web surfing data is collected and used, but also would effectively prevent any further regulations from being created. Mr Falcon explains how we got here, what this means for you (the consumer), and what we ...
Protecting Your Privacy at the US Border
March 29, 2017 12:56 - 78.5 MBWhat are your rights at the border? It depends on your immigration status, and even US citizens will not enjoy their usual Constitutional rights in this situation. This is an important topic that should not be overlooked. I have a insightful and revealing discussion with Adam Schwartz from the Electronic Frontier Foundation about the recent escalation in US border searches of electronic devices. We'll discuss what’s happening and how you can prepare for potential searches at the border, and w...
🎧 Masking Your Digital Footprints
March 22, 2017 15:51 - 77.5 MBWikiLeaks dumped almost 9000 pages of secret CIA documents on the web for all to see, detailing dozens of secret hacking tools and techniques. What does this all mean for you and me? In this week’s interview, I speak with Daniel Davis from the privacy-preserving web search engine company DuckDuckGo. We discuss how crafty marketing services are attempting to track everywhere you go on the web in an effort to show you highly targeted (and highly profitable) advertising. We explain how it all w...
🎧 How The Bad Guys Trick You Into Taking Their Bait
March 15, 2017 19:46 - 77.6 MB“Phishing” is one of the most common and most effective ways for the bad guys to get your passwords or credit card information. In this episode, I’ll be discussing this classic hacking tactic that has grown by leaps and bounds in just the last year - one report said phishing attacks grew over 250% in the first quarter of 2016 alone. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson recently said that “the most devastating attacks by the most sophisticated attackers almost always begin with the simpl...
🎧 Why CloudBleed Wasn’t So Bloody Scary
March 08, 2017 13:07 - 79.8 MBThe media was once again telling everyone to light their hair on fire over the latest web bug that threatens to expose all of our private information - a bug they called CloudBleed. In this show, I use this particular web vulnerability to discuss how the media so often gets the reporting on these things totally wrong. In today’s world, where every headline is dire and begs to be clicked on, the phrase “if it bleeds it leads” has never been more true. We’ll talk about just what CloudBleed is a...