Episodes
Wednesday May 23, 2018
#11 - Hacking Hackers and their Hacks
Wednesday May 23, 2018
Wednesday May 23, 2018
Is it cast aside teenage wunderkinds who can seemingly dissect all things computer with the crack of a laptop to create designer chaos? They are portrayed smoking cigarettes, roller blading and always have media savvy branding! Too cool!
Any time a major breach is announced, the media conjures up their classic image of this hooded jedi-like figure in a dimly lit room with 0s and 1s swirling about. Film and TV has done a superb job of portraying our favourite computer hacker as the stereotyped quirky yet heavily crafted indie kid who wields the required dexterity to power-type at a moments notice, anywhere on the planet and inject themselves straight into anything from corporate servers, to traffic light control systems to Dinosaur based fun parks. It usually involves some superb visualisations of neon landscapes and swirling equations.
In the episode I unpack hacking and what it really is, with a few notable examples from the past few years.
Warning! I may debunk Hollywood's sexy portrayal and expose hacking for what it really is... good ol' fashioned elbow grease.
The shownotes for the episode are here.
https://codifyre.com/coding/hacking-hackers-and-their-hacks-2018/
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Wednesday Apr 18, 2018
#9 - Social Media versus Data Privacy & GDPR
Wednesday Apr 18, 2018
Wednesday Apr 18, 2018
I was a late adopter waiting until about 2007 before getting onto Facebook. Back in the 2000s I remember my brother calling Facebook a platform for narcissists. Just over 10 years later and 2.3 Billion narcissists later he and I are both active participants.
I don’t think he was wrong! To a degree of course. I think Facebook, to take a positive spin, provides an outlet for many people to express themselves without directly expressing themselves. Kind of like wearing a Nike t-shirt. Do I like sports or do like to look like I like sports? Hard to know and you’d need a larger piece of the profile to figure it out but the point remains, I’ve made a statement without having to say anything.
Facebook allows people to ‘share’, ‘like’, or ’emoji’ to provide indicators of their feelings without the risk of direct criticism to direct messaging. In fact don’t we find it a bit annoying sometimes when somebody breaches the unwritten rules and posts something blatantly opinionated… I mean come on people… allude to your feelings damn it, don’t provide direct feelings, we are not capable of coping with that!
So why the analysis… there is a point and that point is the what has happened over the past few weeks with Facebook and their handling (mishandling) of your data.
Social Media Privacy
Is that a contradiction or oxymoron? What can we do about our privacy and what regulations will change the face of how our data is handled in the future?
The shownotes for the episode are here in addition to some great tips and links on cleaning up the privacy of your digital presence!
https://codifyre.com/culture/social-media-versus-data-privacy-gdpr/
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Tuesday Dec 12, 2017
#4 - Life's a Breach - Is My Data Safe?
Tuesday Dec 12, 2017
Tuesday Dec 12, 2017
No! Thanks for reading (listening).
It could be worth defining what a data breach actually is.
Cyber security people often refer to three essential pillars upon which anyone responsible for data must adhere. They are called the CIA, oddly. Not to be confused with the American super-spy organisation or the FBI, NSA, USPI (US Postal Inspectors of course) or NCIS (whatever the hell that actually is… is it even real?)
The CIA of cybersecurity stands for Confidentiality (can you keep my secret), Integrity (can you make sure my secret cannot be accessed or changed by anyone else), Availability (can anyone else deny me access to it). If somebody screwed up any of these it’s a problem. A data breach is when a company royally screws up the first one, Confidentiality, and allows data about us, that we trusted them to keep on the down low, available to others.
Two of the most high profile examples which occured in 2017 were of course Equifax and Uber. I could easily spend this whole time ripping into the Equifax breach alone but thankfully, John Oliver and Last Week Tonight have already done a stellar job of that. I highly recommend checking that out.
The Uber breach was also super fun and also had in common with Equifax an attempt to cover it up, or, at least pretend it wasn’t happening for a while. The Uber/Equifax policy on disclosure is somewhat akin to Homer Simpson, aptly putting it…”I’ll hide under some coats and hope that somehow everything will work out!”
The Uber breach was extra special in that they actually paid the hackers to shut-up and destroy the data they stole so no worries there right? Because hackers have a really rock solid code of ethics. Uber even said they had evidence to suggest data was destroyed. What evidence exactly was that? A screen shot of an empty directory called “Stuff we Stole from Uber” or perhaps they just send them a empty USB stick in the mail with a post-it note saying “See! Gone! We cool?” I’m not totally convinced. Have a quick surf through Dream Market (other Dark Web Marketplaces are available) and see what’s there.
But how do these things happen in the first place?
Read more in the official show notes
https://codifyre.com/technology/data-breach-is-my-data-safe/