Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

If for some reason you haven't started using a password manager yet, it's time to make the move. But how can you trust all these important secrets to some unknown company? How can you be sure that your password vault will be safe in a cloud-based service? And finally, how do you figure out which service is best for you? Today I'll ask Kasey Babcock from Bitwarden all those questions. We'll also talk about two-factor authentication and newer "passkeys" technology, Argon2 vs PBKDF2, and even how you might self-host a solution like Bitwarden if you want to have full control. Kasey Babcock is a Product Marketing Manager at Bitwarden, and she has many years of experience working at software start-ups in the cybersecurity and project portfolio management industries, working with product and engineering teams to communicate meaningful cybersecurity information and product updates. Interview Notes Bitwarden Personal: https://bitwarden.com/products/personal/  Bitwarden Secrets Manager: https://bitwarden.c

Our devices are connected to the Internet 24/7 and the only thing separating them from the bad guys is usually your home router. In the era of smart devices and the Internet of Things (IoT), we also now have many more doohickeys connected to the Internet - most of them with crappy security. If one of those devices is compromised, the bad guys now have a beachhead from which to probe and attack all your other devices. In today's show, we'll review some important cybersecurity tips for our home network and connected devices. In other news: police raid homes of alleged ransomware gang; locally exploitable TPM 2.0 security flaws found; White House unveils comprehensive cybersecurity strategy; new LastPass breach details show specific employee was targeted at home; browser synchronization features may compromise employer systems; Catholic group buys data to target gay priests; private home webcams are a goldmine for police evidence gathering; telehealth companies leak sensitive patient data; ICE and Secret Serv

Privacy advocates like me implore people to use secure apps that protect their data. But how difficult is it to actually create those apps? How do you balance security and privacy against sharing features and ease of use? How do you earn the trust of your users and how do you keep that trust? When does being private begin to negatively impact your ability to participate in society? Today I'll ask Mo, the creator of the secure note-taking app Standard Notes, all of these questions and more - including his personal thoughts for how best to organize and back up your notes and other data. Interview Notes Standard Notes: https://standardnotes.com/  Write Fearlessly (blog article): https://standardnotes.com/why-encrypted  Standard Notes YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@standardnotes  Second Brain note taking styles: https://fortelabs.com/blog/the-4-notetaking-styles-how-to-choose-a-digital-notes-app-as-your-second-brain/  Tresosit secure cloud storage: https://tresorit.com/individuals

Web links are great, when you're on the web. But if you need to read off or write down a web address, or URL, to someone else, anything beyond a simple domain name is going to be way too complicated. Ideally, you want something short and memorable. Enter link-shortening services like Bitly, Owly and others. These services convert long, ugly URLs to short, simple, memorable links. Unfortunately, this also obscures the actual link. When you click a shortened link, you have no idea where it will take you. Today, I'll give you some tools that will allow you to determine the final destination and even see an image of the site without actually going there. In other news: TikTok group teaches people how to hot-wire Kia and Hyundai cars; Twitter charges users for the least-secure two-factor authentication method; scam authenticator apps proliferation on the app store; Apple devices are being stolen after surreptitiously learning the lock codes; Google to launch Android Privacy Sandbox beta; Mozilla discovers huge

Social media wasn't always so bad. It didn't use to collect so much information. It didn't use to feed us content we didn't ask for in an attempt to maintain our attention. Doom scrolling, virtue signaling, algorithmic feeds and misinformation bots are not natural extensions of social media. So what went wrong? And better yet, how can we fix it? Today I'll discuss all of these topics and more with Suzie Dawson, the founder of Panquake.com. She's on a mission to solve all of these problems and restore the promise of social media to be a positive force for society and serve the users, not corporations or governments. Interview Notes Panquake: https://panquake.com/ A Personal Message from our Founder (Suzie): https://vimeo.com/770524936  What is Panquake? https://vimeo.com/503223746  The Social Dilemma (documentary): https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/  Mastodon: https://joinmastodon.org/  Fediverse: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/fediverse-could-be-awesome-if-we-dont-screw-it  Micr

As a general rule, I would normally advise people to minimize the number of online accounts they have, including avoiding creating unnecessary accounts and closing accounts they no longer need. However, as a regular citizen, there are a handful of governmental accounts that exist for you already, whether you use them or not. And you should claim those accounts for yourself before bad guys do this on your behalf. Furthermore, as a home owner or modern consumer, you probably have several other accounts that you may never have claimed: utilities, financial institutions, medical portals, and more. Today I'll tell you where and why to plant your flag. In other news: Booking.com reservation data being used to scam customers; top background check service customers' data leaked; Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested; FTC takes on telehealth data sharing; the ACLU lobbies court to restrict Google geofence warrant data; Anker admits to Eufy camera security bugs; fake, malicious Bitwarden ads deliver malwa

The business of data mining and behavioral advertising has never been stronger or more ubiquitous. And yet, cracks are beginning to appear in the foundations of surveillance capitalism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the European Union where advertising behemoths like Google and Meta (parent company of Facebook) have suffered a series of legal defeats at the hands of aggressive privacy regulators. The GDPR has provided a framework for curtailing rampant abuses of the advertising industry and its promise is finally coming to fruition. Today I'll speak with Johnny Ryan from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, who is fighting for all of us on the front lines of the war for privacy. Johnny Ryan works at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and he was previously Chief Policy Officer at Brave. He has testified and spoken at the US Senate, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. Interview Notes Irish Regulators Fine Facebook $414 Million https://thehackernews.com/2023/01/irish-regul

Every January, we celebrate privacy with Data Privacy Week. It has rightly expanded from Data Privacy Day. And of course every day should be data privacy day. In the news: The FBI shuts down a major ransomware group; new Windows malware steals passwords and other data; new Android malware can completely take over your device; a dangerous "malvertising" campaign mimics popular software to steal info; the previously-secret "no fly" list was leaked online; tens of thousands of PayPal accounts hacked via credential stuffing; T-Mobile admits to over 37M customer records stolen; and Twitter GodMode is back (or rather never really went away). I'll answer a Dear Carey question about Plain, the service that allows financial tech aggregators to access your account information and my Tip of the Week will explain Apple's new Advanced Data Protection feature. Article Links [NPR] FBI says it 'hacked the hackers' to shut down major ransomware group https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151696092/fbi-says-it-hacked-the-h

Our email addresses and cell phone numbers have become highly valuable identifiers for marketers. Like government-issued IDs, your email address and phone number are directly associated with your identity and you will probably have them for life. This makes them ideal for tracking you across websites and accounts. It's no wonder that you are asked to provide this information all the time, for the simplest things. So why not throw them off your trail by having multiple email addresses and phone numbers? It's not as hard as you think, and it's getting easier all the time. This is a privacy concept called aliasing and we'll delve into all the details with the CEO and founder of SimpleLogin, Son Nguyen Kim. Interview Notes SimpleLogin: https://simplelogin.io/  Proton & SimpleLogin: https://proton.me/support/create-simplelogin-account-proton-account  Data Privacy Week: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/data-privacy-day-checklist/  Fastmail Masked Email: https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/article

It’s that time of year again! Time to put the past behind us and look forward to a brand new year, full of possibilities and hope! In today's show I'll throw out several tips for improving your privacy and security that you might want to put on your to-do list for 2023. I've also got a minor LastPass update and some thoughts on how we might make managing passwords easier and more robust. I'll answer a listener question on tracking in beta software. And then I'll cover several news stores: A government watchdog cracks many accounts in a federal agency with a cheap password cracking rig; NortonLifeLock is warning several users that hackers may have breached their accounts; Russian hackers suspected in Royal Mail attack; Iran's citizens being targeted with spyware in VPN apps; Windows 7 is finally totally dead; identity thieves find authentication bypass to access Experian credit reports; robot vacuum cleaner captured compromising pictures that ended up on social media; even the FBI is recommending ad blocke

Facebook stock is down 65%, they just paid $725M to settle the Cambridge Analytica lawsuit, and they've just been fined over $400M by the EU. But that's not the worst part (for Meta). The EU and its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is basically saying that its entire business model - surveillance capitalism - is wrong and must stop. That's the same business model used by Google, too. It really seems that the tide is finally turning in favor of user privacy as more nails are hammered into the coffin of behavior-based advertising. In other news: the first LastPass class actions lawsuit has been filed over the recently announced data breach; WhatsApp adds a feature to bypass internet censorship by repressive regimes; Pornhub is now requiring viewers from Louisiana to verifying the age via ID; data from up to 400M Twitter accounts is up for sale; a military device containing information including biometric scans of over 2000 people was bought on eBay for $68; Mom and daughter kicked out of Rockettes s

Right before Christmas, LastPass dropped a bombshell report explaining that bad actors appeared to have made copies of LastPass users' encrypted password vaults. The information was a little short on key details, probably indicating that the investigation is ongoing and we will learn more in the coming weeks. However, we have already learned enough to know that the data breach did leak some important metadata contained in people's password vaults and that any users who had less-than-secure master passwords should be worried that the encrypted contents may now be vulnerable to disclosure. That is about as bad as it gets. Today I will speak with a cybersecurity and authentication expert from CISA about this breach: what we know, what we don't know, what we should learn from the incident, and (most importantly) what LastPass users should do about this. Bob Lord is a Senior Technical Advisor for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for

All our devices and apps use the internet these days. But what are they doing on the internet, exactly? Who are they talking to? You'd be surprised. But there are tools which will not only let you see what they're up to, but also let you have fine-grain control over what communications you want to allow. But just the mere fact that they're sending and receiving data to and from multiple sources can be revealing, too. While VPN's are good for adding a layer of security, they're really not great at adding privacy - despite having "private" in the name. Thankfully, there's a new service that can help there, too. We'll be discussing network privacy and how we can improve it with the CEO of Safing, Raphael Fiedler. Raphael Fiedler is the CEO of Safing, a speaker on topics about privacy, and a regular co-host on an InfoSec podcast. Interview Notes Safing.io, Portmaster, Safing Privacy Network (SPN): https://safing.io/  Securitized podcast: https://www.securityzed.com/  The Hut Six Story: Breaking th

The year is almost over and as we head into the holiday season I wanted to reminisce with some of my favorite snippets from the last year! Unlike in previous 'best of' shows, I've actually included some new snippets from my private podcast, to give you a little taste of the bonus content that I create for my patrons! The links in the show notes will take you to the full episodes, including all the relevant 'further information' links associated with them. Happy holidays, everyone!! Article Links Ep267: Luck Favors the Prepared https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2022/04/11/luck-favors-the-prepared/  Ep279: Necessary Chaos: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2022/07/04/necessary-chaos/  Ep272: Tomatoes & Telegraphs: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2022/05/23/tomatoes-telegraphs/  Ep275: Cryptocurrency 101: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2022/06/06/cryptocurrency-101/  Ep283: No Place Left to Hide: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/

Today when computer systems fail, they can cause real, physical harm. In just the last few years, we've seen cyber attacks interfere with our food supply, tamper with city water supplies, and disrupt gas pipelines. While cheap consumer electronics often have poor security, medical devices like insulin pumps and pacemakers are also vulnerable to attack - and the consequences of failure can be lethal. The free market doesn't reward better security. Regulations are weak or nonexistent, regulators are understaffed and underfunded. Targeted organizations lack sufficient funding, training and personnel to prepare and respond. They need help. I Am the Cavalry aims to engage technologists and hackers to ride to the rescue. Joshua Corman is VP of Cyber Safety Strategy at Claroty, Founder of I am The Cavalry, and formerly served as Chief Strategist for CISA regarding COVID, healthcare, and public safety. Interview Links I Am The Cavalry: https://iamthecavalry.org/  BSides 2022 Cavalry presentation: https:

Tis the season for giving... and unfortunately, also for taking. Scammers tend to be extremely active during the holiday season. We're buying lots of stuff online, having lots of packages delivered. We're away from our homes for extended periods of time. We're giving money to charities. We're firing up new tech toys. The bad guys know this and are happy to take advantage of our chaotic holiday schedule and unusual levels of spending and giving. I'll give you some top tips to avoid being a victim this holiday season. In other news: the SFPD wants to arm its law enforcement robots; the TSA is expanding the use of facial recognition at airports; Microsoft warns of malware coming from Google Ads; a new study shows that computer repair shops may be accessing your personal data; WhatsApp data breach affects nearly 500M users; Twitter data breach was far worse than reported; Meta shuts down covert US propaganda operation; US watchdog raises warning for offshore oil and gas rig security; a new malware campaign byp

I can't believe I've been doing this for 300 weeks - almost 6 years now! And returning for his 3rd "podcentennial" episode is world-renowned security guru Bruce Schneier! Today we'll discuss hacking - not just in the realm of computers, but in legal, political, social and economic spaces. And then we'll talk about how artificial intelligence and computer automation are starting to play a significant role in hacking all of these realms. Computers and AI expand the scope, scale and speed of hacking and we're honestly not prepared for it. To celebrate the 300th episode and the coming release of the 5th edition of my book, today I'm kicking off a big giveaway with lots of prizes and a killer promotion for patrons on Patreon! (See below for links.) Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned technologist and security guru. He is the author of over one dozen books, including his latest, A Hacker’s Mind, due out in February, I believe. He has testified before Congress and has served on several government com

Black Friday is just around the corner, which marks the unofficial launch of the holiday shopping season. As you're considering what gifts to give to your loved ones this year, I want to make sure you're thinking about the privacy and security aspects. To that end, I have updated my annual Best and Worst Gift Guide and I will go over the highlights in this episode for my Tip of the Week. But I also have a special new gift idea this year: security and privacy coupons that you can download and give to your loved ones! In the news: USPS tells customers to avoid using the big blue mailboxes for gifts and important letters during the holiday season; Google pays nearly $400M fine to 40 states who sued over location tracking; Medibank refuses to pay ransom for data and criminals are starting to leak sensitive medical records online; TransUnion reports a data breach; FBI director warns that TikTok is a national security risk; Lenovo laptops are exposed to UEFI malware risks (update now); a mysterious company with

Connected computers have changed the world perhaps more than any other single invention. The impacts of nearly instant global communication and effectively infinite, perfect storage of information are at once undeniable and difficult to fully comprehend. And yet, technologists, bureaucrats and corporate leaders make decisions on a daily basis that should be considering the repercussions. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Today, we'll discuss the digitization of the world and some of the more important impacts it has had and is having on society with the authors of the book Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion. Harry Lewis, former Dean of Harvard College, is Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard. Ken Ledeen is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Nevo Technologies, Inc., a software development and information technology consulting firm located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Wendy Seltzer is Strategy Lead and Counsel to the

QR codes are not inherently dangerous. They're effectively links we can click in the real world using the camera app on our phone. Like hyperlinks on a web page, QR code "links" can take you to good websites or bad websites. They can also disguise their ultimate destination by using URL shortening services like bitly or owly. But now "free" QR code generator websites - that is, sites that will let you create one of these QR codes by entering the HTTP link you want it to take people to - are using these redirects to basically hold your QR code for ransom. The QR codes they give you use the redirect links to insert themselves into the middle - and after some time, they will stop working until you subscribe and pay them money. If you've already printed these codes on hundreds of business cards or dozens of plaques for your restaurant, they they've really got you over a barrel. I'll help you avoid these scams. In other news: Microsort warns that attackers are quickly leveraging newly reported zero-days; some C